A Month!!!!

It just occurred to me that I have been in school for a whole month! Wow, it went by so fast. Now we are getting to my least favorite part of school, the midterms. No matter how much I study, I still fail them.

Some colleges have what is called as a "testing center." They come in all shapes and sizes. Basically it’s just a place where you take exams any time you want. You do have to take them during the days the teacher designated though. The testing center at BYU is the biggest in the nation. We have an entire building for a testing center. The entire top floor is nothing but infinite rows of desks. There are special rooms in the bottom floor for online tests and one that plays soothing music. My roommate Elisabeth says that she has a lucky chair. I wanted to borrow it but I think I would break it. Anyways after the tests are graded they post the scores on several t.v. screens by the down stairs exits. You have to look up you ID number so no one knows it's you. When you get a really good score, anything above a 90, they flash big red "CONGRATULATIONS" by your number. The whole time I have been here, I have only seen it twice by my name; once last year and once Monday. I always leave the testing center almost in tears.

Why do teachers have to make tests so hard! Do they get together to see who can come up with the hardest questions? Multiple-choice tests are even harder. Some teachers have the: a, b, c, d, choices and then they throw in e) all of the above, f) some of the above but not all of the above, and g) none of the above. I mean if it’s none of the above then why ask that in the first place!

I should go study. I have a Biology midterm tomorrow, a Chemistry one on Monday, another Biology (lab) one on Tuesday and you know what, one every week until thanksgiving! It's not so bad when you have one every week, it's when you have three or four a week that kills you.

But don't let this discourage anyone from going to college because not every college is the same and somehow it always turns out OK. I am just giving you a heads up. Now you'll know what to expect.

O positive

Today I had the opportunity to test my own blood to see which blood type I am. Oh, this was for my intro to clinical lab techniques. I had to prick my own finger and collect my blood in a test tube. I don't know where I got the strength to voluntarily make myself bleed. I am one of the best bleeders in the class. It is amazing how fast the blood moves in your body. I wonder how fast it really moves? The tests were fairly easy, you just add the indicators and look for it to clot. We also had to test our lab partner’s blood. She was O positive too. And the best of all, we had to test and unknown, which usually is unknown but today the teacher said that the volunteers were President Monson and President Hinckley. I could not believe it. I don't know if the teacher just said that or if she was serious. She did have the test tubes labeled Pres. Monson and Pres. Hinckley. So I tested President Monson and he has A positive blood. That was the highlight of my day. After that I spent four hours studding for a test that I failed. I learned that I have to make sure I understand every concept as we learn it not try to learn it the day of the test. I wish I could say that I learn from my mistakes but that mistake was repeated all of my first semester. Well, this just means that I have to study harder, and pray harder too.

I am glad to see that people actually read this blog.

So yeah. I had stopped blogging because no one was reading the blog besides Mr. Locke and Mrs. Grimes and they all ready know what college was like. But now that I see that you actually read it; I'll try to blog at least once a week.

My weekend was very uneventfull as are all my weekends. My weekends constitute of our weekly trip to Walmart to buy food. Yesterday's trip was not as exciting as some in the past.

The first one was quite an experience. I have lived here for almost a year but last year I never left the dorms. I had no need to leave campus when I had open access to the cafeteria. I was not familiar with the bus schedules or routes but my friend and I decided to have an adventure. It was more the fact that I had run out of food then the desire for adventure that convinced me to go. Bus pass in hand, back pack over my shoulder, Ya-Nee and I set out on our quest for food.

Waiting for the bus I noticed it was getting very cloudy but I had to be brave. I had to bring home the bacon. Actually I needed chicken to make tostadas. After half an hour the big white and blue metal monster finally pulled up to the stop and I had to conquer all my fears of ridding in buses to sit down on a seat. My mind wondered for a moment on all the butts that have touched that seat before mine, all the germs and critters that are all around, but I told myself, "Self, think happy thoughts," and so I did. Thinking of all the food I could make once this trip was over made time go by quickly. I could see the side of the walls of what I thought was Walmart. A brief moment of confusion sat in, I thought I was going to miss the stop so I pulled on the "Stop Requested" string and tried to get off. I was off the bus when my friend, Ya-Nee pulls me back in. It was the wrong stop. Embarrassed I sat back down and waited patiently for the right stop. Finally, we arrived.

After two hours of weaving in and out of the mass crowd of shopping carts I made it to the front of the line. Once our shopping was done, we made preparations for our journey home. I packed the chicken and as much of what I bought into my back pack. Then we darted out the door. I thought we had missed the bus. With Walmart bags on our hands and chicken on my back we crossed the street and walked one block to the bus stop. When we looked at the schedule on the stop sign we were outraged to see that would be 30 min until the next bus would come. To make matters worse, the rain kicked in. 35 minutes later, the roaring from the metal monster was heard once more. I have never been happier to see the bus like I was that day.

And so, this journey is repeated every Saturday. And soon the rain will turn into snow, and the freshly made tostadas will turn into canned soup. But life goes on.

It's been a while

Here is a quick update as to why I have not blogged. I just realized that six out of my eight classes are science classes. Translation; homework forever. I have spent an average if five hours daily on home work and you know what that is not enough. It takes me five hrs to do the minimum to get by. I don’t fully understand the reading assignments, class helps a little bit, but I’ll have to reread everything for the midterms. All the lectures for the science classes touch the same topics. Hopefully the repetition will help me learn everything well.


On top of all the homework I caught a cold from one of my roommates. It is funny that I was just learning all about immunology. In one of my labs we just finished looking at all the different white blood cell types. It was incredible to actually look at the white blood cells. It was like looking at another galaxy; thousands of red blood cells and every once in awhile a white blood cell, each looks different from the next. In that same lab we got to test our own blood for anemia. One of my tests turned out positive, and the other negative, so there is a 50% chance that I am anemic, there is also a 50% chance that I am not anemic. I don’t know where I got the strength to prick my own finger but I did it.

That is all for today, I need my rest so I can fight this cold.

Wednesday is not that bad...

Today was not that bad had it not been for the massive pedestrian traffic jam. I only had two classes Spanish at 9 a.m. and Religion at 10 a.m, but I did had to wake up real early (7:20) so I could go to the computer lab to finish my religion home work before Spanish class. I finished just on time and took a brisk walk across the street to my first class for the day. I showed off my Spanish skills a little bit and was out the door to my next class which would have been a synch except for I have to walk by the construction site that is surrounded by a fence that leaves only the side walk next to the library to walk on except that side walk is comparatively small. Going into the narrow side walk, we looked like sheep being herded into the pin. Once inside I could hear many sarcastic comments from above; no, not from God, but from the really tall guys that are so abundant at BYU. One guy said it looked like a concentration camp; crowds of people surrounded by fences. I could see that the congestion lasted the entire south and west sides of the fence. For about 30 seconds the line did not move. Another one said we needed stop lights.After about 10 min of being stuck in pedestrian traffic, I got to class late and had to sit in the back of the room.

So good luck to all for you at Sunset that will have to walk from the new portables that do not have electricity to the unorganized portables on the other side of the construction site.